With just four weeks left to kick off of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup™, we are putting a few final things in place. We have already had our first official World Cup visitors in the tasting room and the bookings for the Goatshed restaurant’s football dates are filling up fast. There has obviously been a lot written about the event and our country’s ability and preparedness to host the event, but it seems that now with the real anticipation starting to take hold, the naysayers seem to have vanished.

If you have visited our tasting room in Paarl, you will know that we have a unique tasting experience, incorporating our cheese tasting area, a separate seated tasting room and our innovative and interactive tasting pods. Neil du Plessis, our tasting room manager, as now also introduced a new tasting area for the upcoming months. We have a lovely covered courtyard area off the tasting room and Neil’s tasting room hosts will be conducting many of the tastings for the groups in this area. There are blinds and heating too, so guests will not need to contend with the Cape winter! This will allow groups to receive personal attention from their host, as well as making sure that individuals and visitors are able to enjoy the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that our tasting room is known for.

And it looks as though Neil’s team will be making good use of the group tasting area. He has told me that he has received well over 3000 confirmed bookings for the month of the World Cup!